New IMF reserves could fund vaccines in poor nations: Rockefeller

G20 is expected this week to back $650bn in new IMF allocations to help countries cope with COVID pandemic.

Moves to bolster the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF’s) emergency reserves could provide the $44bn needed to vaccinate 70 percent of the population in lower- and middle-income countries by the end of 2022, at no added cost to rich countries, according to a new Rockefeller Foundation report due to be released on Tuesday. Finance officials from the Group of 20 top economies are expected to back a $650bn new allocation of the IMF’s Special Drawing Rights (SDR) this week to help countries cope with the pandemic and its economic effects. SDRs are supplementary foreign exchange reserves used by the IMF to make emergency loans. Countries facing balance of payments shortfalls can exchange their SDRs with other IMF member countries for commonly traded currencies to meet short-term needs.